Anti-Ship Missile Capability to Chinese J-16
20 February, 2020

China, which continues its shipbuilding activities to improve its naval power, keeps its efforts to increase its effectiveness in the region and oceans, especially in the Taiwan Gulf.

In the images published in Chinese State Television CCTV in the past days, it was seen that J-16 aircraft were equipped with anti-ship capability. A J-16 fighter-bomber affiliated to the 40th Air Regiment stationed in the Nanchang-Xiangtan District of China was spotted carrying two YJ-83Ks under the wing. Although these aircraft, which China developed with reverse engineering method over the Russian Su-30s, were previously seen with KD-88 air-to-surface missile, it was detected for the first time with the YJ-83Ks, the standard air-launched anti-ship missile of the navy.

The YJ-83K, a radar-guided anti-ship missile, has a 165 kilogram warhead. The missile with its semi-armor-piercing warhead can reach its target at an altitude of 20-30 meters at the cruise stage and 5-7 meters above the water surface at the terminal phase.